Her Holiness Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (AMMA) launched the “Amrita-ISRO-Cognizant Technology Solutions Satellite-Based Education & Research Network for the Millennium” at Amritapuri, Kollam, Kerala on 15 May, 2004. This e-learning initiative, the first of its kind in the country, seamlessly connects the four Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham campuses at Amritapuri, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kochi via satellite. Padma Bhusan Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) inaugurated this path-breaking initiative from Amritapuri.

The inauguration of the initiative took place via satellite simultaneously – Prof. V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary, Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, from Coimbatore; Dr. Srikumar Benerjee, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), from Kochi; Mr. Balu Doraisamy, President, Hewlett Packard, from Bangalore. The event was attended by a host of distinguished persons from Academia, Industry and Government.

The inauguration of the Initiative took place via satellite simultaneously - Dr. V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary, Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, from Coimbatore; Dr. S. Banerjee, Director, BARC, from Kochi; Sri. Balu Doraisamy, President, Hewlett Packard, from Bangalore. The event was attended by a host of distinguished persons from Academia, Industry and Government.

In his speech, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair explained how such satellite links hold the potential to transform India in terms of education and healthcare, both of which areas are being championed by Amma’s institutions. He said how inspired he’d been just days before at seeing doctors at Amma’s AIMS hospital at Kochi examining patients in remote areas of Leh-Ladakh and the Lakshadweep Islands via an ISRO satellite. And now, he said, Amma’s institutions were making bold steps on the education front as well.

This Initiative will deliver e-learning course content in a number of significant fields including engineering, medicine, management, etc.

Cadence Design Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd. will be the first partner to offer classes in the rapidly expanding areas of VLSI and Microelectronics to engineering institutions all over the nation. Mr. B. Rajaram, Managing Director; Konkan Railways was the guest of honor at Kochi.

This network transforms Amrita University into the first of its kind – a fully interactive, multi-disciplinary, multi-media, virtual campus without geographical limitations. Now students are any of the Amrita campuses can not only ‘attend’, but also interact in lectures taking place on the other campuses. Mr. B. Rajaram, Managing Director; Konkan Railways was the guest of honor at Coimbatore and Capt. Krishna Nair, Leela group of hotels and Mr. B.V. Jagadeesh, CEO, Netscaler, USA, the distinguished guests of honor at Bangalore campus.